A former e-trading specialist focused on the credit markets at Goldman Sachs in London is joining the consultancy behind Project Neptune, a trading initiative aimed at tackling a liquidity drought in the fixed income markets that has backing from the buyside and sellside.

Grant Wilson, who was a director in credit e-trading in Europe at Goldman Sachs, is to join Etrading Software, the consultancy behind the trading initiative, on April 2. He will focus on Neptune and other projects, according to people familiar with the matter.

The industry-owned utility will pull together information on bond availability from bank inventories and electronic trading platforms. Sassan Danesh, managing partner at Etrading Software, told Financial News this month that 15 sellside firms, and “at least” 22 buyside firms with cumulative assets under management of more than $20 trillion, are committed to Neptune.

Goldman Sachs is one of the institutions known to be involved.

Wilson's hire comes as Neptune moves into its second phase, which involves selecting vendors that are able to build the software to operate it.

Danesh told Financial News this month: “Phase two involves the tech vendor selection for building it, the business requirements of Neptune, and the governance structures that it will involve.”

There is a growing chorus of concern among market participants and regulators about the lack of liquidity in the bond markets. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee has expressed concerns that recent trends “could lead to heightened volatility and undermine financial stability”, according to minutes of its latest meeting published this week.

The FPC added that the Bank of England and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority should investigate the matter.

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A spate of ventures have been launched to try and help tackle the liquidity shortage, though several market participants are sceptical about their chances of success.

Huw van Steenis, a banks analyst at Morgan Stanley, said this month: "Fundamentally, electronic trading on its own doesn’t create liquidity. I do think more business will be conducted electronically, because we all want to have cheaper pipes, but the question is how do you get it on electronic platforms.”

He added: “For some of the entrepreneurs involved, I think there is money to be made, but is it absolutely transformational? It doesn’t feel that it is at this stage at least.”

Danesh has said in the past that the Neptune project differs from the other initiatives aiming to address the lack of liquidity through its status as a market utility.